---- ALLAN'S PERSPECTIVE ---- The left wing drives me crazy, and the right wing scares the shit out of me!

Allan's Perspective is not recommended for the politically correct, or the overly religious! Some people have opinions, and some have convictions ..., what we offer is Perspective!

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." Stephen Hawking.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Toronto Island Airport best thing since sliced bread?

Activism

I said it before folks, and I’ll say it again ………………., other cities would kill for a downtown airport!

BUT!
As expected, the nay-sayers didn’t waste any time coming out of the woodwork.
Let’s look at them one at a time.
- First of all, THE ISLAND RESIDENTS are against it!
NO KIDDING? I don’t know why there are still people living on the
Eastern Islands, (Algonquin and Wards) but as far as they are concerned
nobody but THEM should even be ALLOWED to step foot on any of the
Toronto Islands.
- Second, some of the condo owners on the lakeshore are against it!
Yes they are, boys and girls! We here at the Perspective Research
Department have done an exhaustive survey of the 21, 682 lakeside
residents and found that most of them enjoyed watching the planes take
off and land, but 8 residents complained that the planes ruined their
view of the water!
-Third, they drew up a petition and 16,000 people signed it.
Yup, out of a city of two and a half million, one half of one percent
of those people in such places as Scarborough, Etobicoke, Eglinton
West, Riverdale, Summerhill and all sorts of other places around the
city were worried about their view as well!
But, they did claim another undocumented 500,000 people didn’t like
it ……………………………. and that works out to four percent of the people in the
entire province.
That’s right kids,a few people in Oshawa didn’t want an expanded Toronto Island Airport.
A few people in Orillia didn’t want an expanded Toronto Island airport.
A handful of people in Braantford were dead set against an Island airport expansion.
A few people in St. Catherine’s didn’t want an expanded Island airport!
(The list goes on)
Oh, and my buddy Rob Ford sent me another letter kids!
(Since we looked at opposition to the airport, we might as well have a look at the Casino thing as well!)

Dear Allan

Earlier
this week, the City Manager released a report on a convention and
gaming complex in Toronto. In response I asked the City Clerk to call a
special meeting of my Executive Committee for April 15th and 16th.

Currently,
the City of Toronto is ranked 33rd in North America as a convention
destination. However, Toronto is the 4th largest city on the continent.
There is no reason why we should not be in the top 10 for places people
want to hold a convention. What we need is a new, larger, full-service
convention facility.

We
have been presented with an opportunity to help achieve that goal at
minimum cost by considering a convention and gaming complex proposal.

Toronto
has an unemployment rate that is above the national average and above
the regional level. A new convention centre and gaming complex would
create 10,000 jobs at an average salary of $55,000. It would also create
an additional 7,000 to 11,000 construction jobs.

This
is good news for Toronto and Ontario because more people will be
working, paying income taxes and buying goods and services from Toronto
businesses.

Over
130,000 new visitors would come to Toronto each year with a new
destination convention centre. This would generate $392 million in
direct spending and inject $1.2 billion in Toronto and Ontario’s GDP.

The
proposal that we have in front of us at Executive Committee next week
gives us the blueprint we need to tell the province what we expect. It
will let us say here is the deal that Toronto wants and expects.

The
City Manager has provided us with the information we need to make
decisions based on fact – not on emotion or political rhetoric.

It
is not a question of saying “yes” or “no” to gambling. The fact is,
gaming already exists in Toronto. Residents can currently go to Woodbine
to play one of 2,500 slot machines or to their corner store to buy a
lotto ticket. They can go to an off-track betting facility or simply
log-in to an Internet gaming site.

The
fact is, if a new casino is not built in Toronto, it will be built
right on our border. If that happens, Toronto will get none of the
benefits from a casino and we will have no say in its operations.

If you want to your voice to be heard on this issue, I encourage you to send an email to exc@toronto.ca and ask the City Clerk to share your email with the Committee.

Remember to tune into NEWSTALK 1010 for the City with Councillor Ford and I at 1:00 p.m.

Yours truly,

Mayor Rob Ford

(I have to admit that the letter actually said “Dear Friends,” but
since I’m obviously a friends of his, I just put my own name in the
title!)
Your ‘ever humble’ reporter:
Allan W Janssen